Nippon Professional Baseball just had its second week of the season, and one of the early storylines has been the Orix Buffaloes. A team that was not considered a lock to be a postseason squad has come out on fire and has the best record in all of NPB at 7-1. Winners of six in a row, they went into Hokkaido and swept the Nippon-Ham Fighters, including an 11-1 beatdown in game two of the series.
Their top four starters have combined to give up 10 runs combined in seven starts. Their ace, Hiroya Miyagi, the top starter in NPB, has led the way with 16 strikeouts in 16 innings and a 2.25 ERA in two starts.
Offensively, Orix has seen some big turnarounds compared to 2024. Last season, first baseman Yuma Tongu had a massively disappointing season where he had an OPS of .621 and seven homers after a breakout 2023 where he posted an .862 OPS with 16 homers. The 2025 season has seen him return to 2023 form with an OPS of 1.204 and three home runs, both of which are either the top or tied for first in the Pacific League. If he can be a consistent force in their lineup, Orix will have a return to the top of the Pacific League with their pitching being a force.
In the Central League, the Hiroshima Carp and Yokohama BayStars played the wildest game of the season so far on Saturday. The BayStars scored five in the ninth to erase a four-run deficit before Hiroshima tied it in the bottom of the ninth, and Shunsuke Tamura hit a home run in the bottom of the 11th to win it for the Carp. They swept Yokohama and look like a potential sleeper in the Central League.
In the KBO, the LG Twins continue to roll. They improved to 10-1 after a 3-1 week. Austin Dean has established himself among the very best hitters in the KBO. He leads the league in OPS at 1.260 with five homers and just five strikeouts. His teammate, third baseman Bo-gyeong Moon, is fourth in OPS at 1.188 with four homers. Together, they form the best one-two punch in the KBO.
The CPBL just completed its first full week of games, and one of the early storylines has been An-Ko Lin. The outfielder for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, who had his breakout season in 2020 with 32 home runs and an OPS of .990, has seen a return to form early in 2025 after failing to reach those heights again in recent years. He led the CPBL in home runs with three and had an OPS of 1.169 through this past weekend. A return to form would be big for his team but also give him a good chance at cracking Taiwan’s roster at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Baseball in Germany began this past weekend as the league was rebranded as the German Baseball League after being known as Baseball Bundesliga. The favorites this year to repeat, the Bonn Capitals, started with a 2-0 weekend, but one of the big storylines was their opponent, the Cologne Cardinals. The Cardinals, who have seven players under 18 on the main roster, showcased them in their series against Bonn. Sixteen-year-old pitcher Tom Apfelbaum stood out. After recently traveling to the Dominican Republic to improve his velocity, he struck out five Capitals hitters in two innings, showcasing his newfound velocity from the left side. Up to 92 MPH, he showed why he’s one of the top emerging German prospects on a team filled with potential prospects.
This week, baseball in Italy and The Netherlands get started as nearly every significant summer baseball league around the world will get going with México to start the following week.
